Nonna DiNozzo
by Manic Penguin
Summary: The two most important women in Tony's life finally meet. Eventual TATE. Post-SWAK, pre-evil-Twilight. Rating subject to change.
1. Chapter One

_I'm in total Twilight denial mode here. This fic is set post SWAK but before the evilness of the seasonfinale._

_Eventual TATE._

* * *

After working all weekend, even missing Superbowl Sunday, to make sure his apartment was suitable for company, Tony went to the store to stock up on all the specialty foods he knew he would need for the following two weeks. He wasn't sure if what he could find was enough or if he would get himself into some serious trouble for not being a _good Italian boy_ but he had driven all over DC to get some ingredients for foods that he felt were more than bordering on cliché.

Once his food was stored Tony did one final check over the apartment before flopping on the couch and sleeping until the alarm clock in the bedroom woke him up at six the next morning.

Wearing a suit was a rare thing for Tony, but he knew he wouldn't have time to change before going to the airport and his usual sweater and casual pants would not be welcomed, so he made sure he tied his tie tightly and combed his hair neatly before stepping foot outside the door.

"Hot lunch date, Tony?" Kate asked in lieu of a greeting as he passed her desk to reach his own.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tony said, not exactly sure how he was going to explain the fact that he was wearing a suit that he normally reserved for court dates when paperwork was the order of the day. "Gibbs in yet?"

"Haven't seen him, but I've been down with Abby for a while," Kate replied as she shifted some files around on her desk. "Seriously, Tony, why did you get all dressed up for the office? We don't have to be in court until tomorrow on the Miller case."

"I know," Tony said. "I just won't have time to change after work," he said as he booted up his computer.

Kate frowned but didn't question it. She assumed he probably had a date with someone who he _didn't_ meet in a bar and needed to dress up for the woman. Thinking about Tony and his endless string of women stung, like always, but Kate didn't let it show.

"So, how was your weekend?" Tony asked, using the time before Gibbs showed up to talk to one of his favourite people in the world.

"Average. Did my laundry, paid my bills, watched some football… you owe me two hundred bucks, you know."

"Damn it, Kate, I told you I wasn't going to have time to watch the game," Tony groaned, thinking about the tape that was sitting in his VCR waiting for him to find a few extra hours. He had made the bet with Kate long before he knew about his incoming visitor, and he should have known that telling her that he wouldn't be able to watch the game would make her want to run her team winning in his face even more if he lost. Which, evidently, he had.

"I know," Kate grinned. "Pay up, partner. I've got a pair of shoes waiting for me to give them a home and you're buying."

Tony groaned. "I'll hit an ATM at lunch, okay?" he said.

Kate seemed appeased by this and let her hand, that had been held out waiting for her money, drop to her desk. "So what was so important that you missed the Superbowl, anyway?" Kate asked.

"I just had a lot of work to do. House stuff," Tony said. Kate shot him an 'I'm not buying it' look and he shrugged. "The maid quit a few months back and I haven't had time to find a new one. Chores got a little pushed to the side. I spent most of the weekend cleaning."

"How cute. _Tony does domesticity_," Kate teased. Tony rolled his eyes and bit back a retort when he spotted Gibbs heading their way. He motioned toward their boss so Kate wouldn't get caught either, a personal curtsey he had extended for the past few months since realizing that being the jackass partner wasn't getting him anywhere with Kate, and they immediately turned their eyes to their respective projects. Kate found a pen and signed off on her report while Tony pulled up a file and started pecking away at the keyboard in the way that always made McGee cringe.

* * *

Later that day, just before they were all about to get ready to head out for the night, the four members of the team gathered in Abby's lab, enjoying the Gibbs-free day they had been allowed since Gibbs had been forced to spend the day at Bethesda getting a physical in order to keep up his field status. He had tried to avoid it by coming into the office in hopes of getting a case but hadn't found any joy there so he had taken his coffee and headed to Bethesda shortly after arriving at NCIS.

"Anyone want to get dinner?" Kate asked.

"I'm in," Abby said without looking away from the computer screen she was staring at. She and McGee were battling it out on a video game of some kind and a moment later she raised her arms in victory and cheered for herself briefly. "And McGee's buying," she added, swivelling her chair around to face Kate who had a smirk on her face.

"What about you, Tony?" Kate asked, looking over at her partner.

"I've got plans," Tony said, glancing at his watch for the fifth time in as many minutes.

Kate frowned. "Okay, what's up with you today. You usually only count the seconds until you can leave when Gibbs is forcing paperwork on you."

"Yeah," Abby agreed. "You didn't even notice me thrashing McGee."

"Sorry, Abby. I'm just a little distracted," Tony said. "I can't be late tonight."

"Whoever she is she'd better be damned special," Abby said as she started turning machines off and tidying up around her lab.

Tony picked up his backpack from the chair he had plopped it down on when he and Kate made their way down to the lab to see Abby and McGee about an hour earlier. "She is," he said before waving at the group and heading for the door.

There was little speculation on who Tony was so eager to see. With his laundry list of lovers it was easier to just smile and nod, roll your eyes at his comments, and let whatever he said go in one ear and out the other. The three remaining members of the team grabbed their things and got into Kate's car, heading for a restaurant that they all agreed on while Tony sped toward Dulles airport.

* * *

_I know it doesn't seem like much of a story now, but there's more coming._

_M_


	2. Chapter Two

After the food was served and they had exhausted what little the could talk about in public concerning work, Abby asked the question that they had all been wanting to ask since leaving NCIS.

"So, anyone know who Tony went to meet?"

Abby's gaze was directed at Kate, which made sense because she was closest to him, even if just because their desks were located only feet apart, but Kate didn't have any answers. "Sorry. Your guess is as good as mine. But something tells me that this isn't a normal bimbo-run for him. He would be bragging about something like that, not keeping it a secret."

"Maybe it's an old honey," Abby hypothesized.

"High school sweetheart?" Kate asked.

"She broke his heart, driving him to lead a life of bed hopping and flirtation, never allowing himself to get close enough to get hurt," Abby said dramatically. Kate scoffed. "What? It _could_ happen," Abby said innocently.

Feeling that it was a good time to jump in—before Kate and Abby got too far into their imaginary world—McGee spoke up. "I heard him rambling in Italian the other day," McGee said casually.

"And this isn't the first thing you say the next time we see each other?" Abby asked, her hand to her heart like she was mortally wounded by the Probie's inability to grasp the concept of gossip. "What did he say? Who did he talk to? Do you think he was talking to this mystery woman?" she asked in a rush.

McGee moved his chair a little closer to Kate to get away from Abby.

"Nu-uh, Tim, not gonna work," Kate said. "While I'm not exactly salivating over the topic like Abby, I'm more than a little curious about what's going on with Tony right now. So spill."

"I didn't understand much. My Italian is weak at best," McGee confessed. "But he said something about picking her, I'm assuming the 'mystery woman'," he said, air quotes surrounding the last two words, "at Dulles. I didn't catch a date or time, though, so maybe this is totally unrelated."

"Do you remember any other things that he said? Even if you don't know what they mean?" Abby asked.

McGee frowned and tried to remember what Tony had said. "Something about _vecchia carretta_ and _giradischi_. That's all I can remember."

"Jalopy and record player," Kate mused. Abby raised an eyebrow at her. "What? Is it wrong for me to know Italian?" she asked.

"No, it's just something I didn't know about you," Abby said.

"My dad owned an Italian restaurant when I was little and the manager would teach me when I came in after school because between three and five it was practically dead," Kate said. "Anyway, nothing you remember helps any, McGee. You're sure you didn't catch a name or something like that?"

"Sorry," McGee said.

"Damn. Guess we'll have to wait to find out," Abby said, clearly displeased by the notion.

They finished up their meals and Kate drove them back to NCIS so that Abby could pick up her car and McGee could catch his bus, even though both Abby and Kate offered to drive him straight home.

By the time Kate got home she was too tired to do anything but flop down on the couch and flip on the TV, needing some brainless comedy to lull her to sleep and take her mind off of who Tony was meeting and why it was bothering her so much that she didn't know.

* * *

Taking shameful advantage of his badge and Federal clearance Tony got past security and was waiting at the gate hen the plane began offloading. She was in first class and was one of the first people to come through the doors, standing tall despite the fact that she barely reached five-two, wearing a long forest green coat over a black pantsuit and flats.

"Anthony!" she cried happily when she spotted Tony.

"Nonna," Tony grinned, going over to the elderly woman and embracing her tightly. She didn't even come up to his shoulders but she still hugged him as tightly as she did when he would crawl up on her lap to get away from his demanding father and his emotionally distant mother.

"How was your flight?" Tony asked in Italian.

"Long and bumpy," Nonna replied, her Italian falling from her lips like bullets from an automatic rifle. "You are too thin, Anthony. Are you not eating?"

"I'm eating," Tony said, rolling his eyes.

"I'll have to fatten you up," Nonna said as if Tony hadn't spoken. Tony didn't reply, knowing that there was no argument that he could make without getting hit with her purse, so he took her carry-on from her and slipped his arm around her shoulder, leading her through the security doors and out to the main terminal where they could collect her luggage.

* * *

The next morning Kate got to work over half an hour late, having missed her alarm because she'd fallen asleep on the couch. There was a note taped to her computer screen from Gibbs. There had been a murder and the team was on site. She was supposed to pull files on the victim and then wait.

Pulling the files took five minutes and once that was accomplished she started going through them, making notes of things that could be pertinent to the case. It would have been a hell of a lot easier if she knew how the victim died but she made notes of anything that could be considered a red flag and then kept going until she had everything from the Lieutenant's duty station to his one run in with JAG a few years earlier to his pre-school teacher's name memorized. She was just about to go on a coffee run when Tony and McGee stepped off the elevator, both covered in mud and neither looking pleased.

"Nice of you to show up, Kate," Tony said as he tracked mud over to his desk.

"Janitorial is going to kill you two," Kate said as she grabbed some towels out of the gym bag she kept behind her desk and tossed them to her co-workers.

"Where the hell were you? I called you when you didn't show this morning and I just kept getting your voicemail," Tony said.

Kate was struck by the true concern that she could see in his eyes, despite the fact that he looked like he was ready to strangle her. She had a feeling that was just for McGee's benefit, though. "Sorry. I fell asleep on the couch and slept through my alarm. My phone died on my way home last night and I didn't think to charge it. And I guess I turned the ringer off again," Kate said sheepishly.

McGee stormed off to get changed or possibly to grouse to Abby and Tony dropped the anger façade. "Kate, god knows I'm not the poster boy for promptness and responsibility, but even I make sure my phone is charged and my ringer is on no matter what. Gibbs called me at four in the morning and told me to find you because we had a case and he couldn't get you on the phone. If I didn't have to get to the scene I was going to go busting down your door."

"That's very sweet and only a little overly Cro-Magnon of you, Tony, and I'm sorry I worried you, but, as you can see, I'm fine. Honest. I was just exhausted yesterday and I barely made it to the couch before I fell asleep," Kate said honestly. "But, not that I'm saying the impulse isn't sweet, because, really, I appreciate that you care enough to 'bust down my door', but, if you ever feel the need to check on me or anything like that, just use the key I gave you, okay? I have enough problems with my neighbours without having a crazed man with a gun kicking down my door at four in the morning."

Tony nodded. "Deal," he said. He knew that her neighbours hated the hours she kept and the multiple visits by gun-wielding co-workers and enemies alike, and Tony didn't want to do anything that made life more difficult for Kate. "You're sure you're okay?" he asked.

"I've got a sore back from my couch, but other than that I'm fine," Kate said. She bit her lip. "How mad was Gibbs?"

"Violently," Gibbs said from behind Kate. Kate jumped. She hated it when he did that. It was funny when he did it to Tony or McGee, but when it happened to her she hated it. "Excuses?" he questioned.

"None you'd find valid," Kate said. She wasn't going to let Gibbs intimidate her.

"I'd like to hear 'em anyway," Gibbs said.

"I missed Tony's calls and I slept through my alarm," Kate said.

Gibbs tossed an empty coffee cup in the trash can beside Kate's desk. "When'd you get in?"

"Forty minutes ago," Kate said. "I pulled the files you wanted. Other than one encounter with JAG a few years ago for fraternization the Lieutenant's record is spotless."

"What happened with that charge?" Tony asked.

"Nothing. There was no case. The woman involved, a Petty Officer Jamison, turned out to be his half-sister. There are no regs against family spending time together, even if one is enlisted and one is an officer, so the charge was dropped," Kate said.

Gibbs walked off and Kate turned back to Tony. "Someone hated the Lieutenant, Kate. This guy wasn't just killed. Someone ripped him apart," Tony said softly.

"Literally?" Kate asked. Tony nodded and bile rose in Kate's throat. "Okay, why don't you get cleaned up and I'll take your camera to the lab for development."

"Thanks," Tony said, handing her his backpack. It, too, was covered in mud, but not quite to the extent of its owner. "I'll meet you in the break room once you're done with the photo geeks. Give you a rundown of what happened to our vic."

"Thank you," Kate said, looking from the backpack to Tony to the muddy footprints left behind by both Tony and McGee.

"And I'll explain the mud, too," he promised.


	3. Chapter Three

The photo lab hadn't been busy because there hadn't been any cases that required photo development until early that morning, so Kate was finished long before Tony. She made two cups of coffee and managed to find a relatively fresh doughnut and a somewhat stale bagel and she was just in the process of searching for the container of organic light cream cheese she had left in the fridge a few days before when Tony came into the break room.

"Feeling better?" Kate asked as she accepted defeat and sat down to eat her stale bagel without any topping.

"Cleaner. Not better," Tony said, smiling at the doughnut that was sitting on a plate next to a steaming cup of coffee. "Thanks," he said, sitting down across from her.

"No problem," Kate said. "So, talk. What did I miss?"

"Well, Gibbs got the call at three, spent the next hour waking up Abby, Ducky, McGee, me, and trying to track you down. Once he had passed 'locate Kate' duty to me he gathered everyone up here, left you a note, and we headed out. McGee enjoyed riding in the front seat—apparently he got a pretty serious concussion the last time he was stuck in the back with Gibbs driving the truck."

"Won't be the last, either," Kate said ruefully. She was a little surprised that Tony hadn't used McGee's concussion as a jumping point for incessant mocking, but she didn't say anything about it.

Tony nodded and the continued. "Lieutenant Daniel Brady was found by his mother around two… Stella Brady owns a pig farm up in Virginia and she said that her _babies _were excessively noisy so she went down to check up on them. Her son was home because he had a week of liberty before shipping out on the USS Seahawk for a six month TOD."

"Was Stella close to her son?" Kate asked.

"From what I got from the pictures all over the house and the things Stella was saying when we got there… well, let's just say that Norman Bates and his mother were estranged compared to these two."

Kate shuddered at what Tony was intimating.

"We got there close to five-thirty and her family doctor had just administered a sedative when we identified ourselves. She barely got the part about her _babies_ out before she passed out. Whatever that doctor gave her was strong stuff," Tony said. "Gibbs is going to get her to come in later."

Kate nodded. "So… how did the Lieutenant die?"

"Ducky said he couldn't be sure without a thorough investigation and even then it might be impossible to tell. All we know is that he was torn apart and that Stella's _babies_ had a heaping helping of _Soylent Green_ last night."

"If it was just last night, though…" Kate trailed off.

"Yep. McGee and I spent the morning corralling pigs into the garage," Tony said. "Abby gets to deal with the… leftovers."

Realizing what that meant, Kate scrunched up her face in disgust. "And the garage is going to smell like pigs and shit for the next god knows how long," she groaned.

"NCIS: come for the adventure, stay for the pig feces," Tony quipped as he ripped his doughnut in half.

* * *

Deciding that they didn't have time to waste in the break room, Kate and Tony headed down to the morgue to see what Ducky had come up with so far. He had only managed to find a few stray body parts that hadn't been eaten yet, and was trying to discern if the body had been dismembered post-mortem or if the dismemberment had been the cause of death itself. Kate prayed that the dismemberment had been post-mortem. Even though it meant that they not only had a murder but a mutilation to investigate, it also meant that Lieutenant Daniel Brady hadn't suffered as much as he could have.

"What do you have for us, Ducky?" Tony asked as Kate took her first look at the 'leftovers' that were laid out on the stainless steel slab in the rough approximation of where they would have been had the body come in whole.

"Not much, I'm afraid," Ducky said. "Until young Abigail finishes with those abominable creatures there is very little I can do."

"All dressed up and no one to chop," Tony quipped.

Ducky sighed heavily. "Anthony, I don't know how many times I've told you this, but what I do is more than just 'chopping people up'," the doctor said, a slight hint of anger brought on by exhaustion and frustration edging into his normally eerily pleasant voice.

"He knows, Ducky," Kate said, stepping in before Tony found out exactly how well that bone saw of Ducky's worked. "Tony's just frustrated about having to wait for the rest of the Lieutenant to… arrive." She wrapped her fingers around his arm in a bruising grip, digging the results of her expensive manicure into his skin to help drive her point home. "We're just going to go see if Abby has anything we can act on today," she added as she pulled Tony out of the morgue.

"Owe," Tony said, pulling his arm away from Kate's grip. "Back off Catwoman."

"Do I look like the type to run around in a black leather catsuit?" Kate asked. "No, wait," she said, holding her hands up, "I don't want you to answer that. Just stop goading Ducky. Remember, he's the one who collects antique swords and knows how to use them. He's also the only one other than me with a key to your apartment. Are you getting where I'm going with this?"

"Loud and clear, Katie," Tony nodded.

"_Don't_ call me _Katie_."

Tony frowned. "Why not?"

"Because I haven't been _Katie_ since I was eight years old, okay?" Kate said. Tony backed off, getting the feeling that there was more to the story but not wanting to risk any vital appendages by pushing the issue when Kate was obviously in a bad mood.

They went down to the lab and listened to Abby's latest CD for a little while before turning the volume down and asking the lab tech if she had anything actionable.

"Sorry guys, but until the pigs let the Lieutenant out I can't do anything," Abby said, obviously not at all bothered by the fact that in a few hours she was going to have a pen full of mostly-human-remains-pig-crap in her lab that would need to be analyzed thoroughly, bit by bit.

"I'm sick of waiting for a bunch of bacon wannabes to crap out evidence," Tony groaned as he and Kate headed back up to their desks.

"Well unless you want to talk Gibbs into a slaughter, I think you're gonna have to wait," Kate said gently.

"I tried talking him into in while he made me and McGee sit with the pigs on the ride back from the farm. He said that NCIS would have to pay to replace every head and, well, apparently pigs ain't cheap," Tony said. He leaned back against the wall of the elevator and closed his eyes. "This has been the longest day…" he said, trailing off, not needing to finish the thought.

It was obvious how he felt.

"Why don't you go steal Abby's futon for a while?" Kate suggested.

"Yeah, that'd go over well with Gibbs," Tony said, standing up straight again when the elevator came to a stop on their floor. "Lets go over that file again, see if anything jumps out at us," he suggested.

Kate nodded and they went to her desk. Tony pulled a chair over and they started pouring over the Lieutenant's military, medical, and civilian records.

It was about two hours of nothing but shuffling papers and rereading the same documents she had already memorized when Kate finally gave in to her curiosity. "So, DiNozzo, when am I going to get the play-by-play of your date last night? I know it's coming and I would like to be prepared," Kate said, hoping she sounded casual enough.

"I didn't think you like hearing my stories," Tony said, confused. Kate never asked him anyone more direct than 'how was your night, Tony?', especially if she knew he had plans for the evening.

"I don't live for tales of silicone and IQ's that are smaller than my shoe size, but I got the impression that whatever you had planned for last night was more than your usual booty call and I have to admit I'm a little intrigued."

"And I'm a little sickened," Tony said, shuddering violently. "Kate, before you say one more word, let me just say this. Last night I stayed home, cooked dinner, and spent the evening translating _Wheel of Fortune_ and _Jeopardy_ into Italian for my grandmother." Kate looked at him with complete and utter disbelief and he nodded. "Seriously. Not really my idea of a night on the town, and definitely not what you apparently thought I was doing last night, but, yes. My grandmother flew in from Italy yesterday. That's why I was so eager to get out of here. I didn't want to leave her stranded at the airport. She knows enough English to order a glass of wine, which I didn't think would help her find a cab and get to my place."

Kate stood up a little straighter. "I'm sorry, Tony. I just assumed that… well, with your history… I'm really sorry, Tony."

"It's fine," Tony smiled.

"I'd like to meet her, if she's going to be in town for a while," Kate said a little shyly.

"Again, she doesn't speak English," Tony said.

"Di mai di presumere, DiNozzo," Kate said. _(Never assume, DiNozzo.)_

Tony's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He thought he knew everything there was to know about his partner. But Kate Todd was constantly surprising him. It was one of the things he loved about her.

"She's in town for two weeks. How about we have dinner one night?" Tony suggested.

"Perfect," Kate smiled before going back to work.


End file.
